For more than a decade I have been what my fellow Protestants would say is "seduced" by Rome. I have felt great comfort in that the Catholic Church focuses on suffering, and the difficult things like the "Dark Night of the Soul." I have read much of the literature and theology from the Devotio Moderna of Thomas A Kempis' The Imitation of Christ to The Councils and Popes like Gregory The Great.
What has held me back is:
1) When in Rome I fell sick and was not healed till I left it. In contrast, in Jerusalem this did not happen, nor in Wittenburg at Castle Church.
2) The Marian Belief in the Mary Queen of Heaven bothers me because the Prophet Jeremiah confronts the worship of the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah Chapter 44
3) Cult of the Saints and Prayers to Them, When There is One Mediator Christ ()
4) How opaque Salvation is the Romanite Tradition when Romans 10:9-10, John 3:16, John 6:40, John 17:3, Acts 15:7-11, Philippians 3:9, and Ephesians 2:8-9 are clear is By Grace Through Faith in Christ Alone.
5) The Sexual Scandals and In The Closet of the Vatican Book that speaks of the lewdness among all the offices of Priesthood from top to bottom through interviews.
6) The Dark History of the Catholic Church cannot be ignored from the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre, The Fourth Crusade Against Christians, The Spanish Inquisition, and Wars of Religion: as David McCulloch says in his book The Reformation, "it was French Catholics who attacked and killed Protestants, while Protestants usually destroyed statues."
7) Penance and Confession being necessary when Jesus paid it all.
8) Council of Trent condemning what the Apostles in the Scriptures say is How One is Saved and knows Jesus.
and More.
I really struggle because I have become disillusioned with Evangelicalism and its Politicanity; Church and State Resurgence. I find the Charismatic circles to be chaotic and I need some structure in my life. Most of the High Churches have split in two over ordination of Homosexuals such as Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and even Anglicans. But on the points above I cannot concede, and so I find myself without a Church home.. and doing what Pope Gregory advised Augustine of Canterbury, "take the best parts from all the churches and adopt them, whatever is worthy and praiseworthy, use them." (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Venerable Bede).
It feels real lonely.. because I can not "sear my conscious" to acquiesce to Rome. I just do not know what to do.
What has held me back is:
1) When in Rome I fell sick and was not healed till I left it. In contrast, in Jerusalem this did not happen, nor in Wittenburg at Castle Church.
2) The Marian Belief in the Mary Queen of Heaven bothers me because the Prophet Jeremiah confronts the worship of the Queen of Heaven in Jeremiah Chapter 44
3) Cult of the Saints and Prayers to Them, When There is One Mediator Christ ()
4) How opaque Salvation is the Romanite Tradition when Romans 10:9-10, John 3:16, John 6:40, John 17:3, Acts 15:7-11, Philippians 3:9, and Ephesians 2:8-9 are clear is By Grace Through Faith in Christ Alone.
5) The Sexual Scandals and In The Closet of the Vatican Book that speaks of the lewdness among all the offices of Priesthood from top to bottom through interviews.
6) The Dark History of the Catholic Church cannot be ignored from the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre, The Fourth Crusade Against Christians, The Spanish Inquisition, and Wars of Religion: as David McCulloch says in his book The Reformation, "it was French Catholics who attacked and killed Protestants, while Protestants usually destroyed statues."
7) Penance and Confession being necessary when Jesus paid it all.
8) Council of Trent condemning what the Apostles in the Scriptures say is How One is Saved and knows Jesus.
and More.
I really struggle because I have become disillusioned with Evangelicalism and its Politicanity; Church and State Resurgence. I find the Charismatic circles to be chaotic and I need some structure in my life. Most of the High Churches have split in two over ordination of Homosexuals such as Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, and even Anglicans. But on the points above I cannot concede, and so I find myself without a Church home.. and doing what Pope Gregory advised Augustine of Canterbury, "take the best parts from all the churches and adopt them, whatever is worthy and praiseworthy, use them." (The Ecclesiastical History of the English People, Venerable Bede).
It feels real lonely.. because I can not "sear my conscious" to acquiesce to Rome. I just do not know what to do.
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